Continuity of community.

One of the 4 principles of family medicine declares that family medicine is a community-based discipline. But what exactly is a community? The origin of the word is probably a combination of the Latin “cum,” meaning “together, among each other,” and “munus” meaning “gift.” So the word literally means to “give among each other.” Of course, there are many definitions of community. I can identify 3 that are particularly meaningful: • a group of people living in a particular local area; • a group of people having ethnic, cultural, or religious characteristics in common; and • the body of people in a learned occupation. So we have shared location, culture, and organization. Having a sense of community will involve a sharing of oneself, a balance between self-interest and the shared interest of the group. Communities are molded by the ability of individuals to actively seek that balance. Be it beliefs, resources, needs, risks, or anything else— something will be shared. Communities are not simply the sum of the individuals that comprise them. Communities are dynamic. Individuals in communities are interdependent. Communities have the potential to be very powerful. While a community might be linked to a particular location and time, it is linked at a deeper level to the personal histories of individual members and to the shared history of the community itself. Within geographic communities there are myriad cultural communities that might, in turn, link broadly with other communities. These cross-links are nearly boundless. The “body of people in a learned occupation” is a specific example of such complex cross-links. This College joins family doctors from coast to coast to coast—and also to the world beyond through partnerships with the World Organization of Family Doctors—while, as family doctors, we are also linked to the populations of our own geographic or cultural communities.